25 Years After Sydney: Diver Laura Wilkinson Reflects On Gold, Grit, and Growth

Twenty-five years ago, a 22-year-old diver from Texas made history at the Olympic Games Sydney 2000. Laura Wilkinson, with a broken foot, nerves of steel, and a mission greater than herself, soared off the 10-meter platform and into the record books. She became the first American woman to win Olympic gold in platform diving since 1964.

What the world saw in Sydney was a poised and powerful competitor defying the odds. But behind the scenes, Wilkinson was in a constant battle — not just with pain, but with doubt.

Wilkinson shattered her foot in early 2000 while practicing an inward dive on land. The break was so severe that it couldn’t be reset properly, leaving a bone permanently wedged under her foot.

“It was like standing on a rock every time I took off,” she said.

She spent nearly three months out of the water, unable to train, instead visualizing her dives daily atop the 10-meter platform.

“Kenny [Armstrong], my coach, told me we had to think outside the box. His one rule was: no looking back. No 'what ifs.' Just go forward,” Wilkinson disclosed.

With only two and a half weeks back in the water before Olympic Trials, Wilkinson pulled off the impossible and not only qualified, but won. “Trials were a big deal to me in that way. Getting there at all was already a miracle,” she said.

“[Kenny] kept me grounded. He taught me how to see the dive in my head, to feel the movement without doing it. That carried me through the Olympics.”

In the Olympic final, Wilkinson faced a dive that had haunted her since the accident — the same movement she was attempting when she broke her foot. It was also the most difficult and painful dive in her lineup.

“I went up to Kenny before it and asked him what technique to focus on,” she remembered. “He just looked me in the eye and said, ‘Do it for Hilary.’ Then he walked away.”

The name hit her like a wave.

Hilary Grivich was a former teammate, an elite gymnast turned diver, and a close friend. Grivich died in a car crash in 1997, but words she had once uttered echoed in Wilkinson’s mind: “If anyone from our team is going to make it, it’s going to be you.”

As she walked up to the platform, Wilkinson wasn’t thinking about pain or the risk of hitting the platform. “I realized this wasn’t just about me. It was for Hilary. For all of us who had this dream.”

She nailed the dive.

“That was the best one I had done since breaking my foot. It kept me in the lead, and I think it’s what won me the gold.”

“I didn’t expect to win gold,” Wilkinson said. “I knew I was doing well, but everything shifted in that moment. It stopped being about me. It became bigger.”

Her victory was monumental — not just for her, but for USA Diving. The gold was the first for an American female platform diver in 36 years, and the U.S. would wait another 12 years before winning another diving medal.

What followed was a whirlwind: game shows, interviews, a Wheaties box. But success brought its own questions.

“Okay, now I’ve done the thing — what’s next?” she said. “I had to go back to school, have surgery on my foot and figure out who I was as an ‘Olympic champion.’ Because there are a lot of doubts as you come back: Am I really this person? Was it just luck? All the things that imposter syndrome can give you.”

But Wilkinson was still hungry. “I’d only been diving for seven years. I felt like I was just getting started.”

She went on to finish fifth in Athens in 2004 and ninth in Beijing in 2008 — while learning some of the hardest dives ever attempted by a woman.

“I was doing dives that only the men were doing at the time,” she said. “Not even all of them. I just wanted to see how far I could push it.”

Wilkinson retired in 2008 to focus on her growing family. But the platform called her back.

While working as a sideline reporter at the Olympic Games Rio 2016, the idea of a comeback took root.

“My youngest was out of diapers, and I thought, maybe I could try again,” said the three-time Olympian from her home in Texas.

She trained for the Tokyo Games at Texas A&M at age 39. In 2017, she placed second at nationals — after nine years away.

“I just missed the Olympic team,” she said about her last trials at 43 years old, “but I loved being back. I never thought I’d flip in the air again. It was a gift.”

Now 47, Wilkinson has taken her talents to the broadcast booth as a commentator for NBC Sports. At the Olympic Games Paris 2024, she provided live poolside analysis — a role that earned her team an Emmy award.

“It’s supposed to come in the mail this month,” she laughed. “That’s been really cool.”

Being in the booth wasn’t just about calling dives — it was about telling stories. “I love getting to share what makes athletes special. It’s not just the performances — it’s the people behind them.”

Wilkinson now mentors athletes across all sports — from children to Olympians.

“We all have similar struggles: fear, mental blocks, doubt. Helping them rediscover joy in their sport is what I love most," she detailed.

That joy, she said, is what she wants her own children to take from her career. “My 14-year-old is a volleyball player. My others are less competitive. None of them are divers — and that’s okay. I just want them to love what they do.”

She remembered being told at 15 that she was too old to start diving, even kicked off her high school team for being a “waste of space.”

“That kind of comment can make or break you,” she said. “Thankfully, I had a club coach who believed in me. That made all the difference.”

Wilkinson doesn’t dwell on the medal, though it still glimmers — dented, with the gold plate worn, and the ribbon unraveling.

“It’s just a thing. What really matters is who you become on the journey,” said Wilkinson.

She’s proud to have pushed the limits of what women could do in diving — and sees her biggest legacy not in a single dive, but in the evolution of the sport.

“Now visualization is standard. Modeling, imagery — these are tools I had to rely on out of necessity. Now everyone uses them,” she said.

As the first woman to win all three major international diving world titles (Olympics, world cup, and world championships) reflected on the past 25 years, she grew quiet.

“I did something phenomenal in 2000,” she shared. “But that was just the beginning. My career — my journey — kept going, and that, I think, is the legacy. I never stopped reaching.”

Lisa Costantini has covered Olympic and Paralympic sports for more than a decade, including for the International Olympic Committee. She is a freelance writer who has contributed to TeamUSA.com since 2011.